Every year we have such a hard time deciding just which Christmas events we’re going to check out! We are finally going to go check out the 2016 St. Augustine Nights of Lights Tour! While there are many ways for you to checkout the nation’s oldest city during Christmas, it’s hard to beat the tour offered by our friends at Old Town Trolley Tours!

We have told you in the past of our St. Augustine adventures, but this is something you truly don’t want to pass up! Running nightly from November 20th through January 2nd the 2016 St. Augustine Nights of Lights Tour starts at 6pm and goes to 9pm. Tours depart every 10-15 minutes from the Old Town Trolley headquarters! Yes, they even run on Christmas day!

Tickets for the 2016 St. Augustine Nights of Lights Tour are only $12.99 for adults and Children are only $5.99 if purchased in advance. Children under 6 are free, and so is the parking! You can save $1 per ticket with promo code SAHJ1 if you purchase through the trusted tours site below:

You will start a Christmas tradition this year as you sip hot apple cider, sing Christmas Carols and snack on home made cookies! Relax in comfort as you’re taken on a guided tour of this historic city and see it in all it’s beauty!

Ready to win a family 4 pack of passes to the 2016 St. Augustine Nights of Lights Tour?

Our next giveaway is literally out of this world! We had such a great time at our visit to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex that we wanted to share the fun with another family! Our friends at KSC want a pair of our readers to checkout everything they have to offer.

What you’ll find when you visit KSC is an adventure that will take you into the past, see the present, and checkout the future of space travel as we know it. Experience a number of iMAX movies, take a tour of the launch facilities, and see rockets up close. The best part is you and the lucky guest of your choice will get to experience the space shuttle Atlantis up close. Want to know what it feels like to actually launch into space? You won’t want to miss the launch simulator. Looking for a self paced tour? Checkout the rocket garden and don’t forget to bring your little ones to the incredible covered playground!

There is so much to do and see you’ll want to come back time and time again! If you don’t want to wait for the drawing, tickets are $50 for adults and $40 for children (ages 3-11). If you are planning on going two days or more, then you’ll definitely want to pickup annual passes for only $75 for adults, and $60 for children. With all the iMax movies to choose from, the KSC Visitor Complex can be visited time and time again!

This Memorial Day take a moment. At some point on your day off today between burgers, hot dogs, and maybe even a few adult beverages, just take a moment. While it’s great that you may have time to reflect upon what you have as an individual, what we have as a country, and the sacrifices men and women have made to secure our freedoms, I challenge you to take it a step further.

We all know that Memorial Day is more than just a three day weekend kicking off summertime festivities, but do you know the individual stories that have secured this wonderful day off for us? Now I challenge you to take it one step further and do more than just reflect, please share! If you have lost a loved one who has served our armed forces, honor them by telling their story. Tell others who they were, what they did, and what a difference they made in your life. It doesn’t matter who you tell, just tell someone! Shout it from the rooftops, or just bring up a casual conversation. Are you standing next to someone while they are flipping burgers? Take your moment to tell them about someone who served.

Have you been fortunate enough to have never experienced the loss of a serviceman or woman in your family? Do you know of someone that has served? Take a movement. But this time, take a moment to listen. Ask them who they know, that has been lost. I am willing to bet they know of someone. Ask them who they were, how they affected them, and honor their memory. It may be difficult at first, but don’t just focus on their military service, focus on who they were, what they did, and how they made an impact. Just take a moment.

So here is my moment: It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Mr. George Lutz! My Grandfather served in the army during WWII. He was from New York, where he met my Grandmother shortly before entering the service. He trained in Georgia at a now long forgotten post, to work in the motor pool. His service took him across Europe where he earned a Purple Heart amongst other awards. At the end of the war, he returned to New York to raise his family and continue his service to his community. He became a member of New York’s finest as a firefighter. He continued to serve and raise two little girls with my Grandmother. Later in life his fire station was relocated to make room for the World Trade Center in downtown New York City. Upon retirement he moved to Leverett Massachusetts, where he once again served those in need as a volunteer firefighter. Throughout his life he was always kind, caring, and would give you the shirt off his back if you truly needed it. He was an inspiration as his daughters and grandkids worked to make him proud. Growing up, he was a loving grandfather that I knew would always be there for me and never disappointed. He was a great person, and a wonderful friend to many.

This was my moment. If you don’t know of anyone who was lost that served our country and aren’t familiar with anyone who may have known someone, feel free to borrow my moment. Grandpa won’t mind, I promise!

It’s no big secret that we LOVE Florida State Parks! Many of our trips have taken us off the beaten path and straight into some awesome family memories. Our friends at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Agency are helping us celebrate our 12 Weeks of Summer campaign by helping 12 families experience the awesomeness that is the Florida Park Service!

Every Tuesday from June 7th to August 23rd, we’ll be doing drawings for a FREE day pass to any Florida State park! Generally speaking, these passes are good for a single vehicle, up to 8 people at most parks. There are few exceptions such as Weeki Wachee Springs and Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs, where the passes will grant admission for two people. Admission to the Skyway Fishing Pier isn’t included in the promotion.

So what is there to do at Florida State Parks? All sorts of stuff! Camping, fishing, hiking, picnics and much more! Throughout the 12 weeks of summer we’ll be making a few recommendations. For starters, if you haven’t already downloaded it, you’ll want to checkout the official Florida State Parks Pocket Ranger App. This free app will give you all the information you need right at your fingertips! If you aren’t near your smart phone, you can checkout their site: http://www.floridastateparks.org/

If there is one spot around Central Florida that the family and I love to check out, it’s Fort Christmas. Each year they have an annual event named “Cracker Christmas”. Cracker Christmas is a bit of a blended event complete with history, arts, crafts, and of course lots of very yummy and affordable food! We had the opportunity to go last year but didn’t get a chance to post about it. I figured since it’s coming up again, you and your family may want to check it out.

Again, we’re no strangers to Ft. Christmas, but this is a bit of a unique event. For the history buffs in the family, you can take a stroll through their historic cracker houses or play make believe in their replica of the actual Fort Christmas. Last year when we were discussing weekend plans, a colleague and I started talking about a huge arts and crafts festival that we were going to, and it took awhile to click, but we were both talking about the same event! It turns out she goes every year with her family, and she is pleased to report that it gets better each and every year.

You won’t believe all of the unique artisans that come from all over the country to peddle their wares amongst the quite and serene Fort Christmas park. There must have been hundreds of vendors! We saw everything from custom cutting boards, to truly unique hand made works of art. Cracker Christmas is a great place to start your Christmas shopping! Since there is a huge playground right there in the park, you can send a responsible adult with them so you can shop for the little ones if you would like. There are lots of kiddie items available. In fact, there was one tent in particular that had mostly wooden turn of the century style toys. Everything from tops to wooden cars. I even saw a wooden slingshot or two. We also witnessed a child shop lift from the tent. I bet Santa brought him a big lump of coal! Continue reading →